Quibids Daily Deals: A Step Forward

Quibids daily deals are here! Today, Quibids announced in a blog post that they are starting Quibids daily deals. This is definitely a step in the right direction. I am personally quite excited about this development and what it might mean for the business as a whole. Quibids has never really identified itself as a penny auction and even in a Quibids interview with Jill, she suggested how Quibids is much more than a penny auction.

I think the idea of daily deals is good for Quibids on several counts -

• It helps attract a new class of consumers who don't care about penny auctions but like such daily deals that help them save money without any element of chance. May be, they will also give the penny auctions a try. 
• It helps Quibids diversify away from the main penny auction model. The industry as a whole is on a decline and I can think of only Quibids which is actually growing currently (not considering the new penny auctions of course, there are several promising penny auctions today but it is hard to predict the future in this industry). By entering the daily deals market, it can keep revenues up. 
• Quibids can leverage its power from penny auctions to get great bargains from companies. I don't know if this will become the next Woot - probably not, but if it can offer deals that even a site like Woot cannot, then we will have a real winner. Sites like woot can leverage their huge customer base but a site like Quibids can leverage its already existing auctions, which can be the same product being offered in the daily deals section. 
• It brings something new to the site. I don't know of any other penny auction doing this, which isn't too surprising considering Quibids usually leads the way in sustainable innovation in this industry. It keeps the bidders hooked on the site longer. 
• It provides something that bidders can share with friends. I think this is actually a very important point from the point of view of Quibids and I am not sure how much of importance they think this commands. The way I see it, there are almost no penny auctions that people would want to share with the entire world, on their Facebook with friends or on Twitter with their followers. The very simple reason for this is that people can lose money on Quibids especially if they are foolish and no one likes promoting a site where a friend can do that. However, the introduction of Daily Deals changes that completely. Now people can genuinely share a deal with friends and introduce them to the website. If the friend pokes around a bit more, they will discover the penny auctions and might join if they want to. 

Of course a big factor to remember is that Quibids is the largest penny auction out there it can take chances. I would hate for it to take foolish risks with its money and market share, but things that blend into the overall theme and premise of the site - entertainment shopping - are fine by me. We have to wait and see how successful this section can get. Introducing a more social element might be a good start. 

One good way to really take this off the ground is to offer unbelievable discounts that people cannot help but promote. You know, the ridiculously good deals (say a $100 Amazon card for $50, I don't know! But you get the idea). This section has the potential to stand on its own and is definitely promising if done right.